Muhammad Ali’s brother, Rahman, pays tribute to the boxing legend on Good Morning Britain

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali’s brother, Rahman, has spoken about the three-time world heavyweight champion, following his death on Friday (3 June) at the age of 74.

Speaking to Ross King in Louisville, Kentucky – the Ali’s hometown – for an interview screened on ITV’s Good Morning Britain yesterday (6 June), Rahman paid tribute to his brother saying:

“[Muhammad was] Just perfect, nice, kind, sweet, loving, jolly. He liked to laugh and play and kid people and tell jokes.”

Asked whether he had foreseen his brother’s success and if he had changed over the years, he noted:

“I did, because he was so jolly and happy and so outgoing, different from other children. He never changed. The love he had as a child he carried to adulthood, he remained the same, it got stronger the older he got.”

Muhammad Ali - The Greatest

Ali passed away at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona with a spokesman citing  “septic shock due to unspecified natural causes” as the cause of death. The boxing legend, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984, had been admitted with a respiratory complaint.

Speaking about Muhammad’s fight with Henry Cooper where he was knocked down, Rahman said:

“I was surprised but I knew in my heart Muhammad would get up and knock him out, which he did. You know why, because he was the greatest of all times. You may knock him down but he’s going to come back. He got that greatness in him.”

On how he will remember his brother, he said:

“I remember my brother as a loving, kind person. White, black, whatever you were, he would love you, he loved people. He was a boxer, that was his trade, but his heart was loving and kind. He would take the shirt off his back to give to you if you needed it, that’s how kind he was. I will miss him. I’m a very, very emotional person, I’m about to cry.”

Former boxing pro Chris Eubank also spoke about the prolific boxer’s passing on the breakfast news programme.

Chris Eubank

“Today I am a world champion, or a former world champion because of him. What he did, he kind of ignited that spark in me, I wanted to be something and so I think the quote goes something like this, I had the audacity to stand on the shoulders of a giant so I could see further to do something for myself and I’m inspired, my whole career has been inspired by Ali.” – Chris Eubank

Eubank added that he would like to see monuments built around the world in memory of Ali: I have been saying about putting a monument together in every major city in the world starting in London in Hyde Park perhaps. Today I will be contacting Sadiq Khan, the mayor, to see whether he can actually back me.”

Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff

Former England cricketer, Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff also spoke about Muhammad, he said:

“Well look, the thing is you have sport and you have people like me, who was alright, and then you have the greats and the legends and then you’ve got Muhammad Ali. He was an idol to so many and epitomised what sport was. He’s obviously very good but he was entertaining, he was outspoken, I loved the bloke, I could watch him all day long.”

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